2024 Eclipse Awards: Gaming

A sharp debut victory, a Grade 1 success in his second start, and two subsequent graded stakes placings helped Gaming land a spot as a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old male division.

A son of Game Winner out of the Johannesburg mare So Stylish, Gaming was purchased for $250,000 out of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March 2-year-old sale. He was trained by Bob Baffert for longtime clients Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman.

In his debut on Aug. 11, going 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar, Gaming dueled on the lead through a quick half-mile in 44.71 seconds, disposed of his pace challenger, and, despite racing on the incorrect lead through most of the stretch, won by 5 1/2 lengths in a field of nine.

Though sent off the longest price of a trio of Baffert entrants in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 8, Gaming rallied from next to last to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Climbing early under Flavien Prat, Gaming made his way to the lead before the quarter pole and finished up nicely to beat McKinzie Street as well as Baffert trainees Citizen Bull and Getaway Car. It was Baffert’s record-extending 18th victory in the Del Mar Futurity, and the fifth for the ownership group of Pegram, Watson, and Weitman. One of those previous winners for the owners, Lookin At Lucky, was crowned champion 2-year-old male of 2009.

:: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Believing Gaming would benefit from more time between races, Baffert opted to skip the Grade 1 American Pharoah on Oct. 5 at Santa Anita to simply train up to the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. A bit fresh in the Juvenile, Gaming wound up chasing his speedy stablemate Citizen Bull all the way around the track, ultimately finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind the American Pharoah winner while also 3 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Hill Road.

“I thought his Breeders’ Cup race was really good,” Baffert said of Gaming. “It looked like he was loaded. Citizen Bull just caught another gear.”

Baffert ran Gaming back Dec. 14 in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, where, from the inside under Prat, he chased the pace of his stablemate Getaway Car but was pretty much done by the top of the stretch as he finished a well-beaten third to Journalism.

“He lost it in the paddock a little bit, he didn’t ship over well,” Baffert said. “Prat said he got confused being on the inside. It was a race we’re going to draw a line through. He’s going to get better, I’m not worried about that.”

Gaming returned to the work tab on Dec. 28. In early January, Baffert said he was considering Gaming starting his 3-year-old campaign in the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn Park.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.